The mythology of the princess is just about as old as the hills, and for untold generations, little girls have listened with rapt attention to tales of princesses, and have imagined themselves as gown-clad royalty. Even my four-year-old son loves princesses (he's always saving them, and consults a group of imaginary princesses on everything from my hairstyles to the toys he should buy). Disney's 'Princess' marketing scheme has been brilliant and ubiquitous (if often oddly applied), and has helped develop young girls' continuing interest in princesses over the past few decades. But, beyond the avid collection of Disney memorabilia meant for children by a quiet subset of adults, there has been no widely-accepted market towards the over-12 set.

Why not? Do women suddenly stop longing for a tiara and many-tiered ballgown when they reach their teens? Obviously not. Just look at the wedding gown market (and I can just see one of Disney's brand strategists with a glossy wedding mag in her hands and a lightbulb pinging brightly over her head). Have you ever seen so many princesses in one place?

As someone who's been bridal gown shopping with a variety of close friends and sisters, I can promise that the words "you look just like a princess!" are very definitely the most-uttered six words in wedding boutique dressing rooms around the globe. Even I have been known to use that time-honored ultimate bridal compliment.

Every little girl wants to be a princess, and that dream doesn't fade; it only becomes more expensive when she reaches her early 20s. The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) has put a price tag and its usual stable of princesses on that dream, and it's a brilliant, and (what's better) easily-extended, strategy. I predict great success, followed by a whole division of associated products and services. Could Disney Princess bridal boutiques be far behind?

For parents of daughters that are not blond-haired and blue-eyed, the "princess phase" of girlhood is often something to be endured and puzzled over. I watched, pained, as my beautiful black-haired daughter spent much of her third year asking for blond dolls. By kindergarten there was a powerful group of girls that controlled her classroom's social dynamics -- all blond. One mom noted she'd heard that could happen as blond girls become the anointed ones at very young ages.

My younger daughter is now in her princess love phase. And, specifically, it is the blond princesses of The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) that are somehow her favorites -- Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty. Belle of "Beauty and the Beast" has light brown hair and she gets a nod as does red-haired Ariel of "The Little Mermaid." Whatever Disney does to get into the hearts and minds of children, it does very well since these are not toys or brands we've chosen to emphasize as parents.

So when I learned that Disney will create its first black princess, I breathed a sigh of relief. The hand-drawn animated musical, set in New Orleans and called "The Frog Princess" will feature "Maddy," a young resident of the French Quarter. It won't be released until 2009, but I'll surely take my daughters to it -- even though they will by then, thankfully, both be out of the princess phase, which seems to end mercifully around age four.

We parents of young children love to rail and rant at Disney and its Princesses, going so far as to hail the New York Times when it did an exposé of sorts on the cult of princess. Not only do the princesses create all kinds of stereotypical, feminine-victim role models, goes the theory, but also they promote unhealthy products! The scourge of every grocery store shopping trip is the begging for Disney Princess cereal, or fruit snacks, or (as I encountered last week at Walgreen's, and I don't even have a little girl): Disney Princess gummy bracelets. I do not lie. In fact, I even ate one.

Well, I may have to begrudgingly thank The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS), who has finally decided to be a little more circumspect about the products its princesses, and the rest of the company's characters, push like so many barely nutritional drugs over the supermarket counter. According to the Wall Street Journal today [subscription required], Disney's CEO, Robert Iger, introduced guidelines to ensure that "its name and characters only will be used on kid-focused products that meet certain guidelines in terms of calories, fat, saturated fat and sugar."

Hurray! Parents of little girls (and princess-loving boys, like mine) can finally venture into the grocery stores again. Well, not so fast: Disney will be bound by its existing contractual agreements for as long as two years, and the campaign will take "several years" to roll out internationally. As PR moves go, it's wonderful and I honor Iger for his foresight. Incredibles instant oatmeal? Incredible!

However. The impact of this move will be slow and the brand damage has already been done. I mean! Disney Princess gummy bracelets! Can Disney recover?

It's usually sometime around October 1 that I first start seeing the Halloween costumes on the three- and four-year-olds in my neighborhood. A little girl on a morning run September 29 was my first sighting: a slinky tiger suit. It was especially awesome worn with one sleeve off. Last night, my son's friend Jackson came over to play wearing his Flash costume. My girls are equivocating; princesses, Tinkerbell, or the all-pleasing little girl combo, the fairy princess?

Yep. It's all about princesses, and mermaids, and of course, princess mermaids this year. It's Ariel's fault, naturally, she of the Little Mermaid movie re-release and the incessant repetition of "Kiss the Girl" on Disney Radio. As for my four-year-old, he wants to be a pirate. More specifically, a Pirate of the Carivean (his interpretation of "Pirates of the Caribbean Dead Man's Chest" -- frighteningly enough, he knows to put "Dead Man's Chest" at the end of the title every time he mentions it). Or maybe, he tells me, Diego (of Go, Diego, Go!, part of Viacom, Inc. (NYSE:VIA)'s Dora the Explorer franchise on Nick Jr.).

When I saw the Wall Street Journal's piece on popular Halloween costumes this year [subscription required], it got me to thinking: could I recommend stocks based on my considerable Halloween costume field studies?

Most obviously, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE:DIS) is a good bet for your Halloween investing dollar (is there such a thing?) It's princesses and mermaids and pirates, oh my! on the trick-or-treat path this season. But what else?